Community leaders in Atlanta said the Trump administration’s federal grant cuts are already affecting their operations – and they are bracing for more – at a forum convened by the Independent Sector, a national consortium of nonprofits and philanthropies, with the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“A lot of those foundational things that have gotten people over the hill to make it every day, they’ll be losing. Everything from housing to food to wealth-building initiatives to actual jobs,” said Yterenickia Bell, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Georgia director.

The Independent Sector hosted the Sept. 17 forum on how nonprofits, philanthropy, and community leaders in Atlanta can build collective power ahead of its 2025 summit in Atlanta next month.

At the event, four grassroots nonprofit leaders shared how federal funding cuts are affecting their services for low-income Atlantans, ranging from food and nutritional education to housing people with HIV – and warned that Congress’s 2026 budget cuts will tighten the squeeze.

The Hand, Heart + Soul Project provides nutritious food to families through community gardens and develops nutritional education programs. It will lose all of its federal SNAP-Ed grant funding when the new federal budget year starts Oct. 1, making up half of its roughly $730,000 budget, said executive director Wande Okunoren-Meadows.

Congress cut all SNAP-Ed funding for the 2026 federal fiscal year, which funded nutrition education and obesity prevention, as part of a massive $186 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) through 2034.

Okunoren-Meadows, hopes that the state of Georgia can tap into its general fund so the program can “continue at least for one more year.”

There is an “invisible cost” to the drastic funding cuts, Okunoren-Meadows added, because of the emotional toll. “Where’s the data that talks about the invisible grief of loss to communities, to relationships?” she asked. “I don’t want to be strong. I want to be human.”

She said that she can only push herself and her staff so far. “If we’re getting 50% less, we’re going to do 50% less work. That’s just how it works,” she said.

Read the full article about funding cuts impacting Atlanta nonprofits by Ada Wood at Atlanta Civic Circle.